Family of man killed by BART police call for murder...

1of 17A picture of the Sahleem Tindle is seen behind Attorney John Burris as he speaks to the crowd during a rally at the West Oakland BART station.Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

2of 17Sahleem Tindle's mother, Yolanda Banks, was joined by dozens of people Tuesday afternoon near the West Oakland BART Station.Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

3of 17Attorney John Burris points to a picture of Sahleem Tindle’s body and bullet wounds. Burris said video footage shown to the family by Oakland police proves that there was no firearm in Tindle’s hands when he was shot three times in the back.Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

4of 17Yolanda Banks holds a sign with pictures of her son, Sahleem Tindle, during a rally at the West Oakland BART station.Photo: Michael Short / Special to The Chronicle

5of 17LaRon Mayfield speaks about his younger brother, Sahleem Tindle, during the rally.Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

6of 17People gather during a rally for Shaleem Tindle at the West Oakland BART station. Tindle, a 28-year-old African American man and father of two, was shot three times in the back on Jan. 3.Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

7of 17People march across 7th Street during a rally for the Sahleem Tindle at the West Oakland BART station.Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

8of 17Sahleem Tindle’s mother, Yolanda Reed Banks, center left, and his sister, Nalia Watkins, chant as they march around the West Oakland BART station.Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

9of 17Police cars block the intersection of 7th and Chester Streets after a shooting occured near the West Oakland Bart Station in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

10of 17A police officer stands by after a shooting on 7th and Chester Streets outside the West Oakland Bart Station in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. Sahleem Tindle was killed by police during an incident involving another man.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

11of 17Police officers walk through a crime scene at 7th and Chester Streets outside the West Oakland Bart Station after a shooting in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

12of 17The BART train arrives at the West Oakland station as police officers investigate a shooting at 7th and Chester Streets in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. Sahleem Tindle was killed by police during an incident involving another man.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

13of 17Police officers investigate outside barbershop Upperkutz on 7th and Chester Streets outside the West Oakland Bart Station after a shooting in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. Sahleem Tindle was killed by police during an incident involving another man.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

14of 17Officer Johnna Watson gives an interview to the media after there was a shooting on 7th and Chester Streets outside the West Oakland Bart Station in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. Sahleem Tindle was killed by police during an incident involving another man.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

15of 17Police officers investigate outside barbershop Upperkutz on 7th and Chester Streets outside the West Oakland Bart Station after a shooting in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

16of 17A police officer stands by after a shooting on 7th and Chester Streets outside the West Oakland Bart Station in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. Sahleem Tindle was killed by BART Police officer Joseph Mateu during an incident involving another man.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

17of 17Police officers investigate outside barbershop Upperkutz on 7th and Chester Streets outside the West Oakland BART Station after a shooting in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. Sahleem Tindle was killed by police during an incident involving another man.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

Yolanda Banks was joined by dozens of people Tuesday afternoon near the West Oakland BART Station, where her 28-year-old son, Sahleem Tindle, was killed by a transit police officer on the afternoon of Jan. 3. She and family members, as well as civil rights attorney John Burris, called on authorities to release body camera footage of the incident and hold Officer Joseph Mateu accountable.

“After a while you cry and you cry, the tears have to come out because you have to feel the pain,” Banks said. “I feel the pain.”

Burris, who is representing the family in a civil suit, said video footage shown to the family by Oakland police proves that there was no firearm in Tindle’s hands when he was shot three times in the back.

The incident first started when Tindle and an unidentified man began wrestling with each other across the street from the BART station, Burris said. The two men were “hugging each other,” he said, with one person in a headlock and the other in a waist-lock when the officer ran up to the station, which is near the intersection of Seventh and Chester streets.

Authorities said Tindle ignored commands to drop a handgun, forcing Mateu to fire his weapon.

Burris made arrangements for the family to privately view the body camera footage through the Oakland Police Department. Banks, 58, told The Chronicle that the footage left her “disturbed” with “so many things running through my mind.”

Police officers investigate a shooting at 7th and Chester Streets near the West Oakland Bart Station in the rain in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. Sahleem Tindle was killed by police during an incident involving another man.

Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

She added, “What I’m going to continue to feel is my heart tearing. You wouldn’t want no one to feel that, no mother or father to endure that.”

Burris said the video included audio of the officer saying, “Show me your hands, show me hands.”

“Within moments,” Burris said, Mateu shot Tindle in the back three times. The officer “could not have seen a weapon of any kind,” Burris said.

A handgun was recovered from the scene, authorities said, but Burris has challenged Tindle’s possession of the weapon.

Laquisha Stanley told The Chronicle just moments after the shooting that she was at a nearby doughnut shop when she noticed her friend get into a dispute with Tindle, a man he apparently knew. The pair argued as they walked down the street, she said, before Tindle allegedly shot Stanley’s friend in the leg.

Burris argued that Mateu did not have enough evidence to know whether Tindle had a gun before intervening.

Tindle was at the BART station to meet his girlfriend and two young children, Burris said.

“We want justice, yes we do,” said Tindle’s father, Yhshky. “I’m still lost for words. I don’t know what to do.”

Rally attendees hold signs calling for Officer Joseph Mateu to be held accountable for the shooting of Sahleem Tindle.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

In addition to calling for Mateu to be charged with murder, Tindle’s family is pursuing a civil suit against the officer and the BART Police Department.

Mateu was hired by BART as a community service assistant in 2003 and became a police officer in 2005, said Alicia Trost, a spokeswoman for BART. He was promoted to the rank of senior officer in January 2010.

BART issued a statement Tuesday afternoon noting that “any loss of life is tragic,” and both the transit police and the Oakland Police Department are investigating the events of Jan. 3. The transit agency also touted reforms implemented in recent years, including an independent police auditor and a BART police citizen review board.

At the conclusion of the investigations and a review by the Alameda County district attorney’s office, BART said, the agency will release the body camera footage.

Sarah Ravani covers crime and breaking news at The San Francisco Chronicle. She graduated from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in May 2016 where she produced work in audio, photo and digital storytelling. Her coverage included stories on police, race/identity, the LGBT community and human rights.